'Serial' recap: The trouble with diplomacy

Editor's note: Miriam Ramirez, a freelance writer and former reporter for The Monitor in McAllen, Texas, served as an active-duty Military Police/Corrections Specialist in the United States Army. She'll be recapping Serial Season 2 for Mashable.

SPOILER ALERT! The following contains spoilers from Season 2, Episode 9 of the Serial podcast.

Episode 9, “Trade Secrets,” begins with US Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl describing the first few moments after his rescue by a special operations team, where he is airlifted to a military base to begin his recovery.

He is disoriented and unable to speak. It's been five years since he had this much freedom, and this many non-Taliban soldiers around him. It seems like a storybook ending until we hear another soldier ask: “All that for one soldier?”

Serial host Sarah Koenig helps us dissect what “all that” entails. What transpires during this episode is a rather tedious road map of the Afghanistan peace process, and how US Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl ties in to that timeline.

It begins with Richard Holbrooke, an outspoken foreign policy advisor, appointed as a Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan (SRAP) by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. He was brought on board in hopes he would help broker peace agreements and end the war in Afghanistan. But Holbrooke rubbed people the wrong way — even the President himself — and often butted heads with other top-ranking folks in the Obama administration.

His wife, journalist Kati Morton, tells Koenig that her husband did not think there was a military solution to the war in Afghanistan. When he was SRAP, Holbrooke felt ‘it was not the time for diplomacy’ and kept lobbying for a political solution to the war.

We next hear from Vali Nasr, who worked as a special advisor in the Middle East with Holbrooke. He offers some insight about Holbrooke’s strategy: Holbrooke believed it was best to use the military to get the Taliban to the table, with the goal of the two parties signing a peace agreement.

Meanwhile, Holbrooke was fighting an uphill battle with the administration, tearing through plenty of redtape to begin reconciliation talks with the enemy.

But the enemy was interested in talking to the U.S.

We are introduced to an Afghan man, Tayaab Agha (dubbed “A-Rod” by Holbrooke), who served as an aide to Mullah Omar, the Taliban leader. Agha became a central figure in secret peace talks between the Taliban and senior officials from the U.S. State Department and CIA.

A woman flashes a sign while listening to a speaker at the "Bring Bowe Back" celebration in Hailey, Idaho in 2013.

Image: AP Photo/Jae C. Hong

The Taliban gets antsy

During these meetings with Taliban negotiators, the US carved out key non-negotiables: stop fighting, break away from Al-Qaeda and support the Afghan constitution (including increased rights for women and girls).

The Taliban countered with its own proposal: they wanted the U.S. to distinguish them from Al-Qaeda, take the Taliban's name off the United Nations Sanctions list of terrorist organizations and give them a political office outside of Pakistan in Doha, the capital city of Qatar. They also want their prisoners back.

That’s where Bergdahl comes in.

If the US handed over some Taliban prisoners, they would in turn hand over the American soldier. This would be considered a ‘mutual release,’ not a prisoner exchange. Bergdahl was merely a line item in these negotiations, Koenig says — not the end-all, be-all for the discussion.

Talks with the Taliban were making some headway until Holbrooke died unexpectedly in late 2010. After his death, says Koenig, peace talks turned stagnant. Getting prisoners out of Guantanamo Bay is nearly impossible, but that’s all Taliban negotiators wanted.

They requested the release of five high-ranking officials, one of whom was even regarded as the “most feared men in the land.” The release of these prisoners would be a huge morale boost to the rest of the Taliban forces.

Most of all, such a release would mean the U.S. finally recognizing the Taliban as a legitimate organization.

Setback after setback

The Taliban, in their quest for legitimacy, again requested an office in Doha. They got it under the following conditions: that the Taliban would not be referred to as the Islamic Emirate, an alternative government of Afghanistan.

The office opened in June 2013; its first order of business would be the exchange for Bergdahl.

And then, during its grand opening, distinguished guests and U.S. officials watching the televised ceremony stateside were greeted by a a large flag and a sign — emblazoned with the words “Islamic Emirate."

This simple error, flouting the one word they agreed to omit, derailed years of effort — and the Taliban walked.

The Taliban celebrate a tiny victory

It wasn’t until early 2014 that the Taliban was finally ready to strike a deal. Not on a peace plan, but on a swap.

To no one’s surprise, the Taliban dragged their feet during the trade — but the U.S. wouldn’t release its prisoners until Bergdahl was back in U.S. custody.

Koenig describes this swap as the Taliban getting a lot of bang for its buck: an office in Doha, names being erased from the UN Sanctions list and those five Gitmo detainees.

All of this in exchange for one American soldier, whom they were tired of holding and may have released eventually.

When President Obama announced that Bergdahl was safe, people, especially his family, thought the nightmare was over. Bergdahl was repeatedly assured he wouldn’t face any serious charges, and that the time he was held captive by the Taliban would be punishment enough.

Spoken like true politicians.

Flash forward to a reality firestorm, and an Army isabout to make an example of one soldier. The military has a certain passive-aggressive, tough love approach to teaching soldiers a lesson. We all remember that donut scene from Full Metal Jacket.

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